Your ShelfYour Projects

One Hundred Thousand Circulation

2%

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 21, 1907

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 84, No. 8.

Read the full edition

One Hundred Thousand Circulation

By Charles H. Jones

Conducted by the Department of Circulation of the Review and Herald Publishing Association

One Hundred Thousand Circulation

Would not every Seventh-day Adventist rejoice if it could be said that our good old pioneer missionary paper, the Signs of the Times, had a circulation of one hundred thousand copies weekly? Well, that is just what we are striving for, and we trust there will be no let up until the deed is accomplished.
And it is not such a great undertaking after all—only an average of about two copies to each church-member.
The Salvation Army War Cry, Ladies' Home Journal, and other papers of that class have a circulation of from five hundred thousand to one million copies. With our constituency and the important message we have to give to the world, is it too much to expect a circulation of one hundred thousand copies for the Signs?
It has already been demonstrated that the Signs of the Times is the most effective agency we have for bringing people into the truth, but the publishers have been studying to see how they could make it still more efficient for general missionary work, and the next volume promises to be better than ever.
Beginning about the first of April, there will be a series of twenty-six special numbers covering all points of present truth. Among the subjects to be considered in this series are the following:—

THE BIBLE

Oneness of the Scriptures and Their Inspiration.

PROPHECY

  1. Its Object and Scope.
  2. The Great Image of Daniel 2.
  3. The Four Beasts of Daniel 7.
  4. The Seven Seals of Revelation 5 and 6.

THE COMING OF THE LORD

  1. Will He Actually Come Again?
  2. How Will He Come?
  3. What His Coming Means to the Righteous.
  4. What His Coming Means to Those Who Reject Him.
  5. What His Coming Means to the Earth, Including the Promised Inheritance and the Everlasting Kingdom.

OUR SACRIFICE AND PRIEST

  1. The Lamb Slain from the Beginning.
  2. Our Sacrifice in Type and Shadow.
  3. The Ancient Sanctuary and Its Service.
  4. The Antitypical Sanctuary—Our Center of Worship.
  5. The Twenty-three Hundred Days of Dan. 8: 14.
  6. The Judgment and Its Message.

THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

  1. Signs in the Sun, Moon, and Stars.
  2. Signs in the Physical Earth—Cyclones, Earthquakes, Tidal Waves, etc.
  3. Crop Failures, Destruction by Insects.
  4. Various False Isms Which Are Undermining Christian Faith.
  5. Capital and Labor.
  6. Socialism.

THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL

  1. The Law—Its Scope, Character, and Perpetuity.
  2. The Gospel—What It Is and Its Purpose.

MAN AND HIS DESTINY

  1. The Man Created and His Nature.
  2. The Entrance of Sin and Its Ripened Fruits—Death.
  3. Righteousness and Life.
  4. Christ Our Life.
  5. The Resurrection.

SPIRITUAL GIFTS

  1. What They Are, Their Purpose and Distribution.
  2. Restoration in the Church.

ELECTION, PREDESTINATION, AND FREE WILL

THE GREAT THREEFOLD MESSAGE

  1. The Condition of the World.
  2. God's Healing Message.
  3. Message Rejected, and Result.
  4. The Beast.
  5. The Image.
  6. The Mark.
  7. The Result of the Messages.
  8. God's Sealing Work.

THE CHURCH

  1. What the Church Is.
  2. The Called-out Ones.
  3. The Apostate Church.
  4. The Two Witnesses.

BIBLE TEMPERANCE

  1. The Temple of God—Eating, Drinking, Dressing, Exercise, and Breathing.
  2. True Sanctification.

THE SABBATH, THE TEST OF THE AGES

  1. Its Origin, Nature, and Object.
  2. The Sabbath in the Old Testament.
  3. The Sabbath in the New Testament.
  4. The First Day of the Week.
  5. The Change of the Sabbath.
  6. The Restoration of the Sabbath.

THE GREAT FEDERATION MOVEMENT

  1. Federation of Capital.
  2. Federation of Labor Organizations.
  3. Federation of Socialistic Societies.
  4. Federation of Religious Bodies.
  5. The True Church Unfederated.

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

  1. What It Is.
  2. Relation of Church and State.
  3. Preaching of the Scriptures.
  4. Religious Liberty in America.
  5. The Prophecy of Revelation 13.
  6. Religious Liberty Menaced.
  7. The World-Wide Extent of the Movement.
  8. The Year of Uncertainty in France.
  9. The Papacy's Challenge to Germany.

THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT

  1. The World's Great Need.
  2. Baptized for Service.
  3. The Power of Godliness.
These subjects will be supplemented by Bible readings, and taken up in such a thorough, systematic, progressive way that they can not fail to interest and convince the honest in heart.
Every church and isolated member ought to take a club for general missionary work, and then an earnest effort should be put forth by them to secure yearly subscriptions. The next volume will contain “a feast of good things,” and our friends and neighbors should have the privilege of enjoying it.
We presume all our readers will give a hearty assent to all this, but, dear friend, let us be a little more definite, and ask you personally, What are you going to do to help bring about this much-to-be-desired result? Are you willing to act your part, and pay for two or more papers to be used by your church in general missionary work, or to send to your friends or neighbors?
Are you willing to take a club, and then sell the papers on the street or from house to house?
Are you willing to join the ranks like a good soldier, and do your part in this work?
It means hard work and self-sacrifice, but there is a blessed reward at the end.
In one of the Special Testimonies it is stated that “our missionary paper, the Signs of the Times is doing its work everywhere, and is opening the way for the truth to be more fully presented.” And in another place we read, “It is a fact that the circulation of our papers is doing even a greater work than the living preacher can do.”
Now in view of this, we have every reason to take courage and push the work vigorously.
The past year has been an eventful one, and 1907 promises to be even more so. Calamities are multiplying on land and sea. Earthquakes continue in divers places, capital and labor are still at war, our large cities are fast becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah, the nations are arming for the last great struggle, and everything goes to show that we are nearing the end. In the “Outlook” department of the Signs special attention will be given to current events, showing the fulfilment of prophecy.
Now, just now, is our time to work, and we appeal to you to take hold with us to help increase the circulation of our pioneer missionary paper, and in this way assist in giving the last warning message to the world.
We can not all go to foreign lands as missionaries, but we can all have a part in circulating the Signs, and thus have a part in giving the last message.
If you are a member of a church, talk with the elder or librarian about this matter. If the church is already taking a club, see if it can not be enlarged.
If you are alone, then write to your tract society or to the publishers direct, asking for descriptive matter and suggestions, how to use the Signs, etc.
Little booklets have been prepared telling what the Signs will contain during the coming year, what it has accomplished by those who have used it in the past, how to organize and pay for a church club, who are agents, club rates, etc. These little booklets contain full information in regard to the Signs, and they can be had for the asking. Address your tract society, or the Signs of the Times, Mountain View, Cal.
The following words from Elder E. K. Slade, president of the East Michigan Conference, is a sample of many letters pledging hearty co-operation:—
“I believe the Signs is growing better all the time, and feel that it is not receiving the circulation that it should. We wish to do our part, and I shall endeavor to use my influence and best efforts for the accomplishing of a stronger work with the Signs in our conference.”
C. H. JONES, President Pacific Press Publishing Assn